That Launched A Thousand Ships?
by NateGold
Summary: AU. Takes place at the time of the Seventh Angel. Not a Tenchi crossover! Shinji a long lost heir? Chapter 4 FINALLY in progress!
1. Chapter 1

"That" Launched a Thousand Ships!

By NateGold.

Standard disclaimers apply, aka I get no money from this (sigh).

A/N: Got a little bored and decided to experiment with an AU. Enjoy!

Prelude: Heir Loss.

Somewhere, on the edge of one of the galaxy's spiral arms, a small blue-white world wobbled painfully around its sun. It was night, and the stars blazed out in all their majesty. On a terrace overlooking a battered city, a young boy enjoyed the cool breeze, his trusty s-dat playing softly in his ear, stargazing. Little did he know that those stars were beginning to look back.

What's a nice probe like me doing out here in the middle of nowhere? At the moment, playing with myself…you know, "Imperial fleet command"? What'd you think I meant, anyway? Well, I was built special to search for the runaway heir to the Ikarian Star Empire. What, ya never heard of us? Not surprising…we keep a low profile despite how big we are. How big? Well, let's just say we've got no need for Jurai…they're a bunch of tree huggers anyway. But I digress.

Anyway, about 16 years back, Princess Yui flew the coop after finding out that her folks had arranged a marriage for her. She grabbed a prototype Lance-class speeder and scrammed for who knows where. At first, no one really worried; let her blow off some steam and then she'd come back like the good little girl she was. But after about a month, the warning flags went up and they started a search of the neighboring systems with no luck. Robot probes and various live searchers also came up empty. The royalty decided to go into damage control mode and hushed the whole affair up. In the meantime, they wasted even more time until someone came up with a bright idea, namely me, the ODBL9000. My friends at the lab called me Oddball for short.

I was a bright little AI. I soaked up info like a sponge. Then, they imprinted the last cortical scan of the princess into my circuitry…gave me a very strange personality. I guess one could say I was very much in touch with my feminine side, who I suspect was also carrying my inner child or something like that. They figured that by giving me her memories and a pattern of how she thought, I'd do a better job of finding her. I have to admit, I kinda liked the lady…brilliant genetic engineer. A bit of a prankster, too. She once trained a stand of Piper plants to let off with some really splatty-sounding razzberries. Things got out of hand when the Bag flower symbiotes decided to match their smell to the noise. Took a month to retrain the plants and fumigate the area! She also was kind and loving person. It was too bad she was such a lousy judge of character.

I had just finished round one billion and twelve, and it was all tied up between me and Me. The game was getting real old real fast, so I decided to call it a day. I put sensors into passive detection mode and set the drives to cruise before I started the maintenance cycle. I figured a little nap might be just the thing; I always did find the feel of a gentle solar wind relaxing…

Wha…how long had I been sleepin' anyway? I checked; only a month? What got me up? Then I heard it…a faint echo of a very old fashioned FM radio signal of all things…music of some kind…OH BABY! JACKPOT! It matched up with a memory of the princess…She seemed to really like this piece. I could see why; nice and rebellious. I ran a quick triangulation and match it up on the ol' star chart. Figures…a restricted world…place called Earth…How original! I fired up the drives and popped into tachyon space. Gotta admit, that song was growing on me…let's crank up the volume a bit;

YA GOT BLOOD ON YOUR FACE, A BIG DISGRACE; SOMEBODY BETTER PUT YOU BACK INTO YOUR PLACE!

WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU…WE WILL WE WILL ROCK YOU….

This was not looking good. Not good at all. I popped out of t-space just outside the solar system, just far enough so I could "read" the light waves and signals coming from that world recently. Place was a freakin' disaster! Half the population dead, axial tilt radically changed, not to mention some anomalous energy readings that raised a red flag in the back of my thought nexus. I did a fast data squirt back to the head honcho. In a day, I got a response...move in and continue the investigation. In the meantime, the big boy himself, the Emperor and his lady were on their way with a squadron of battle cruisers. Seems he and the big brains back home got a positive ID...this little mud ball was under attack by Winnower-type harvesters. I thought we'd gotten rid of those things ages ago! It seems that there used to be a race of folks called Star Seeders, who spread "crops" of bio-engineered specimens on a bunch of worlds. The harvesters were supposed to test and collect the best of breeds. For some reason, the Star-seeders vanished. Without instructions, the Harvesters malfunctioned. The indigenes here called 'em "Angels. Interestingly enough, they were using Bio-mechs modeled on the Harvesters own tech to fight back. They called these fighting machines Evangelions.

I did a quick micro-jump into geo-synchronous orbit and cloaked myself. Hey, I like hide and seek! Most of the action was taking place at a place called Tokyo-3, so I cloned a copy of myself and piggybacked it via satellite uplink into the resident super-computer, running a scan of the data. Let's see...crap...crap...more cra...HOLD IT! Yui Ikari...wife of Gendo Rokobungi nee Ikari, commander of NERV...absorbed into EVA-01...dayum! Waitaminnit...SHINJI IKARI...HER SON! Oh my stars and garters...and he and the rest of those..:sputter: DARE treat the heir-hereditary like crap! Oooh, this Roko-bunghole or whatever the hell his name was had just stepped in it up to his neck! Let's not even talk about the genocide this clown was planning! The big boy had to be told about this. Did a full power Tachyon-comm burst, and then rested a while to recharge. The big man was NOT going to be happy with this Gendo character...not happy at all! Personally, I couldn't wait for all hell to break loose when His Nibs arrived. In the meantime, though, I wanted to get my own shot in. I simply spread a clip of bongo-brain (who I then dubbed Wee-Willy Winky after viewing his equipment; I won't talk about his other shortcomings) doing the nasty with a skanky blonde onto every screen in NERV! I even set it for continuous loop! All I could do now was wait; somebody's got some 'splainin' to do!

End Prelude


	2. Heir Transplant

That Launched A Thousand Ships?

By NateGold

Chapter 1: Heir Transplant.

It had been a horrible week for Ritsuko Ikagi, and all because some perv hacked into the security tapes! To have her sex life put on display like that…not to mention with whom!

What hurt even more was the reaction of her co-workers; the suppressed snickers, the whispers, the looks of amusement and total disgust. Let's not even talk about the kicked-puppy dog look Maya had every time she glanced at her beloved sempai! And now Gendo was up her ass (figuratively speaking; she never complained about the literal meaning…) to find out who and how. Whoever it was, they were good! They were able to evade every firewall, anti-virus and hunter/killer program she used. But she refused to give up…her honor, and quite likely her life was at stake!

Oh, She's good…real good for a fleshy! She really caught me off guard a few times…damned near managed to nail my thrusters to the wall in the beginning. But she ain't quite up to my level, no indeed! After a while, I started to enjoy our little game of "Tag". But all good things must come to an end; here's my ride now. I watched as a number of huge bodies dropped from T-space into normal. If I had a jaw, it would've dropped! There were three of them, the biggest and nastiest ships the Empire had to offer, The ISS Stavanzer, The ISS Mouloukin, and The ISS Ta-Hoding, all accompanied by a flock of Guttorbryn class attack cruisers. The Imperial house was NOT playing games this time. I felt the tug of a tractor beam and was pulled into the landing bay of the Stavanzer. I could hardly wait to be plugged into the I/O socket. I really needed to take a data dump in the worst way…!

The data flowed in, terrabytes of information being broken down, processed and directed to the terminals of those in charge of the expeditionary force. Eyes narrowed, fists clenched, tempers flared and curses towards NERV and SEELE flew freely. The battle group accelerated, target in sight. As the embattled globe hove into view, crewmembers reported readiness, landing forces were armed, and weapons primed. The grand admiral, his Imperial majesty oversaw all from his quarters, screens alight with data and holograms. In the middle of reviewing data on the EVAs, something unexpected happened. The Emperor burst into peals of laughter!

"Well, someone seems in a good mood. Care to let me in on the joke, m'lord husband?"

Emperor Priam the 14th turned to face his wife, the Lady Callisto. Long dark hair framed a beautiful, emerald eyed face. Even now, in a skin-tight battle suit, she fairly radiated sensuality coupled with intelligence. Of course, the lady also considered herself lucky, taking in the big 6'3 form in front of her. Longish dark hair stippled with white, deep blue eyes under bushy brows, and lean, muscular form made a feast for her eyes.

Still chuckling, Priam shook his head. "Even with her essence trapped, our daughter still manages to amuse me. Take a look at this, and tell me what it reminds you of." He pointed to the still of Unit 01. She did, and then she herself joined in the laughter.

"Oh, my…It's…Pookie! Her favorite pet growing up!"

"Yes, her Almarian horned lizard. Damned thing used to follow her around everywhere, and she spoiled it rotten. Figures that she'd create something like that to remind her of her favorite pet." Their reverie was interrupted, as alert sirens sounded.

"Status!"

The image of the tactical officer came into view. "We've been detected by the Harvester.

It's firing at us. Shields holding steady."

"Lock main guns on target! Fire at will!"

At the Shore, EVA units 01 and 02 stood; ready to repel the angel beginning to emerge from the surf

"Cover me, 3rd child. I'll show you how it's done!" Words being said, the arrogant red-haired pilot of Unit 02 sprang into action, charging towards its enemy.

"Don't tell me what to do, you damned rooky!" Shinji, outraged, laid down a barrage of shells, using short bursts like he'd been taught. He watched with surprised amazement as Asuka, seemingly effortlessly split the Angel in two. That surprise turned into horror, as each half became a new angel. Asuka was thrown violently back into the surf, but the Angels didn't follow up their advantage. Instead, they raised their gaze skywards, and let loose a volley of cross flares at something high up. The volley was answered. The air screamed as superheated plasma bolts tore through A-T fields and volatized the angels in a blast of light and concussive force. A deep rumbling sound was heard, rattling windows for miles, and shadows turned day into night as the Imperial Ships made their presence know, each mile-long shape descending majestically, to hover directly overhead.

"Mein Gott in Himmel!" was heard via an awed whisper from the German. That seemed to sum up the feelings of those present quite nicely. In the midst of the confusion, an odd thought occurred to Shinji.

'Well, at least here's one thing she can't blame me for!'

'**That's not necessarily true, young lord!' **The telepathic voice, filled with amusement and…love…boomed through the entry plug. A second voice, a woman chimed in.

'**_After all, you're the reason we came here in the first place. To return you to your people, and hopefully free your mother from her long imprisonment. But more of that later. Yui, if you'd please…?'_**

Shinji found his synchronization abruptly cut. The EVA, eyes shining like suns performed a complex salute, and then kneeled. The entry plug ejected. Asuka was not handled as gently. Her plug force-ejected, coming to a rough landing hundreds of yards away. In the meantime, as he awaited the arrival of the retrieval/rescue teams Shinji's thoughts were anything but calm, as 4 little thought-words kept repeating themselves in his mind:

'Yui, if you'd please…?'

Yui…his mother's name. Suddenly a lot of seemingly unrelated facts came together, such as why his Eva seemed to always go berserk, the way his synch rate seemed to be rising faster than the others, and finally, the response the EVA gave to the telepathic request.

'Mother…is in the EVA!'

He found himself hard-put not to violently throw up.

In the meantime, in the Geofront, the bastard-king was anything but pleased.

"Analysis", he snapped

"Power readings of the…visitors… off the scale!" Aoba reported. "Not S-2 based."

"Pilots vitals are strong. Shinji's EEG readings and blood pressure show an extremely agitated state!" Maya chimed in. "Asuka shows normal"

"Commander, Tactical VTOLs en-route. Section four on board, with heavy weapons."

Captain Katsuragi reported. Inwardly, she was desperately wishing that she had, not just one, but a whole case of beer. Angels were bad enough, but extra-terrestrials with Big guns?

"Have them assume positions but do not, I repeat, do not engage until we know their intentions. Dr. Akagi, why were the plugs ejected?"

"Signal did not originate from Nerv, but from our guests. It would seem we've found our mysterious hacker…or rather, they've found us." Ritsuko was torn between fury and relief; fury that her life had been made a living hell for a week, and relief at the fact that she was finally off the hook! All further reflection was put on hold as an excited call came from Matoko.

"Commander, Incoming! Multiple contacts descending!"

"On screen!"

The image displayed was shocking. Wave upon wave of armed and armored beings were ground bound, rocket packs flaring. Their destination was obvious. They were heading directly towards EVA-01!


	3. Meeting the Family

That Launched a Thousand Ships?

By NateGold

Chapter 2: Meeting the family.

Standard disclaimers apply, don't own anything, yadayadayada. This episode of Star Drek brought to you by a deranged mind.

In his life, Shinji Ikari had experienced more things than most. Many of these would qualify as strange or frightening.

Being abducted by aliens however, took top spot his short list of truly weird events. As soon as he exited his entry plug, he was guided by flashing arrows on the floor into what seemed to be a dressing chamber. He was startled when a rather jovial voice started speaking to him.

"Hiya kiddo! Sorry for the rough ride up. Now, some folks are really anxious to meet you, so the sooner we get that smelly crud you've been soaking in cleaned up, the sooner you can get into some respectable clothes. So just follow the lights and let's get this party started. Oh, if ya need anything, just sing out. Name's Oddball"

Oddball. Very appropriate to this situation as a whole. He'd been stripped, steam cleaned, soaked, and micro waved giving him a very good idea of how a dumpling from a Chinese take-out felt. The robes were a pleasant surprise, loose fitting and very comfortable, but why did they have to be purple and green? He was then ushered into a luxuriously furnished office where he was hit with another shock to his system.

The woman seated behind the desk was beautiful, no doubt about it. Long brown hair, a positively drool-worthy figure and a beautiful face…but something seemed familiar.. 'god..the eyes! Green..Like mom's!'

At that moment, the woman's face lit up with a broad grin. "Right in one, Shinji! Now come on over here and give your poor old grandma a hug!"

'Yes, definitely a strange day' was his thought, right before keeling over from shock.

Gendo was not in the best of moods right now. Aside from feeling like every nerve in his body was on fire, he was now being frog-marched by a pair of robots down a corridor. A large door slid open as they approached and he was unceremoniously thrown in head first. As he rose off the floor, he was met with sardonic laughter.

"Ah, Gendo…the man who would be god. I mean, seriously, VTOLS against Starships…? Pathetic!"

The speaker stepped out into the light. Tall, long dark hair streaked with white, very muscular.

"Who are you, and why am I here? By what right do you hold me here?" Gendo managed to grate out. He made a move to rush the tall man, and promptly found himself slammed against a wall by some invisible fist.

"Oooh, that must have hurt! Did you seriously think that I would come within ten feet of you without some safeguard in place? Not that I really needed it when I could've psi-blasted you myself. Still, you asked a legitimate question, so let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was an empire. The rulers had a brilliant daughter who they loved dearly. Unfortunately, the rulers tried to arrange a marriage. Being independent and headstrong, the princess took exception to this and fled to a little known backwater world. There, she met and married, and gave birth to a son. The princess met an unfortunate fate, and the prince consort proceeded to abandon the heir for 10 years. The princess was Yui Ikari, and her child, Shinji."

The Emperor Priam watched with great satisfaction as all the color drained from Gendo's face as he realized that he was in some seriously deep dip. Priam strode over and grabbed Gendo by the throat, holding him dangling above the deck. His voice crackled with icy fury. "Gendo Ikari, by taking our name, you rendered yourself subject to our laws. I now strip you of that name and the protection of the royal family. For the crimes of attempted genocide, child abuse, abandonment, adultery and discorporating the royal princess, we find you guilty of high treason! I have been you judge and jury, but someone else wishes to be your executioner." He tossed Gendo down, and strode towards the exit. The back wall slid away, revealing the huge form of EVA unit 01, eyes glowing red. A low growl sounded.

Priam then winced as the following sounds were heard:

CRUNCH!

PTOOOIE!

"Gods, Yui, that temper! I know you were angry, but did you really have to bite his head off like that…?"

(Now Priam, don't be too hard on our daughter) the telepathic voice of his wife chided him. (I'm sure that this whole business left a bad taste in her mouth as is.)

In the meantime, Oddball was overseeing the awakening of the rest of the NERV Command crew.

MISATO:

It felt like every hangover she'd ever had had gotten together and taken up residence in her skull, the pain so intense that it was a major effort to open her eyes, much less think coherently. Finally though, she gathered enough energy to pry her lids open and take in her surroundings.

'Last thing I remember, we were being buzzed by what looked like a bunch of flying Sumo wrestlers. Next thing I know, I'm here…speaking of which, where the hell am I anyway?' She had no complaints about her comfort level; the bed she was on seemed to mould itself to every contour of her body. The lighting was soft, with some sort of artwork adding splashes of color to otherwise plain surroundings. A whirring and clinking pulled her attention to a bedside table, where a vial of some liquid was being deposited from a wall slot.

"Ah, you're finally up!" The mellow voice caused her to start violently. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"Who are you? Where the blazes am I?"

"All in good time, Captain Katsuragi. First things first. I'm going to assume that you've got one hell of a headache. Drink that vial. It'll help alleviate the effects of the Neural Pulse that we used on NERV H.Q."

Misato lifted the flask and sniffed…eech, what a stench! She held her nose and upended the contents down her throat. God, did it burn! She couldn't argue with the effects though; the throb in her head disappeared almost immediately! She sighed and smiled with relief.

"Thanks, I needed that. Now, I hate to sound like an ingrate, but who are you and how do you know who I am?"

A warm disembodied chuckle sounded. "Actually, I'm more of a what than a who; I'm an artificial intelligence, model ODBL9000. But you, beautiful lady, can call me Oddball."

Misato shook her head. "Oh great, now a computer is making a pass at me!"

"Hey, you're lucky I've got no real body, otherwise I'd be doing more'n that, lemme tell you…!"

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now, Robo-perv, could you answer those questions I asked earlier?"

"Well, I've already told you who I am. You are on the Imperial Battle-Ship Stavanzer, currently en route to New U.N headquarters in Neo-Berlin. His Imperial Majesty, Priam the 14th will be meeting with the entire assembly to tender an offer. In the meantime, consider yourself our guest. You will be escorted to an audience with the Imperatrix, Lady Callisto, who is very eager to meet you."

"I'm honored but…why?"

"For the kindness and support you've shown the heir lineal. And to answer what I'm sure is your next question, he's known to you as Shinji Ikari, son of crown princess Yui Ikari and successor to the throne of the Ikarian Star Empire."

Misato Katsuragi was a strong woman and brilliant strategist. She had handled situations that would have paralyzed a lesser personality. At this news, she did something totally unexpected. She collapsed bonelessly back onto the bed in a dead faint.

"Humph. Was it something I said…?"

RITSUKO:

Meanwhile, Ritsuko Akagi was experiencing her own painful awakening. So when a small jar bearing the tag "Drink me" appeared, she didn't hesitate. After all, if whoever these people were had wanted her dead, they could have done so easily. She sighed in blissful relief as she felt her mind begin to function relatively pain-free. She took in the room she was in; a couple of monitors displaying what she assumed were her vitals, a bedside table, what looked like some form of dispenser nearby and not much else. Her eyes then opened wide with astonishment as she re-read the tag on the jar.

"Drink me! How could they possibly know that I used to love reading "Alice in Wonderland" as a kid?"

"Well, it helps when you have telepaths on board, but in your case, the MAGI gave us the information freely. Your mom seems to have quite a sense of humor…" The disembodied voice drawled in an amused tone. "And before you start playing the Who, what and where game, my name is Oddball, I'm an artificial intelligence and I happen to have gotten quite close to your mom recently. Odd woman, only one I know who'd give a computer a multiple personality disorder." A dry chuckle sounded.

Ritsuko slumped back onto the bed. "Okay…now I definitely need a coffee and a cigarette…"

A wall slot opened, dispensing a mug and a pitcher of something that smelled absolutely heavenly.

"We haven't got coffee, but I think you'll like that. We call it Chok'Tar. As for the cigarettes, closest thing is that disgusting stuff the Sargonites smoke"

"Sargonites…?"

"Yeah, they're those delightful fellows who ripped the VTOL engines off with their bare hands before settling them on the ground, and stunned all you folks with a neural pulse. They're heavy gravvers…they're comfortable at 10 G's. Took them a week in the tank to get accustomed to the low air pressure and gravity on your world."

That explained a lot, like how they were able to break through 27 layers of armor so easily. Ritsuko shuddered, remembering how the incredibly broad and stocky forms not only caught up to some of the missiles fired, but then proceeded to take them for rides like so many kids at an amusement park! She took a cautious sip of the Chok'Tar, then closed her eyes in bliss.

"Oh my god, that's good…better than sex!"

"Considering who you've been having it with, I can't say I'm surprised…man could be the poster-boy for erectile dysfunction!"

Ritsuko was first angered by this insult, but to her shock found she was chortling in spite of herself

"I will admit, sometimes it's hard to get a rise out of him…"

"Help! I've fallen and can't get it up..!"

For the first time in quite a while, Ritsuko laughed, an honest side-splitting, gut busting explosion of mirth that took several minutes to subside. Finally, she calmed down enough to be able to breathe again.

"Oh…my, I needed that. Thanks!"

"Not a problem. Anything else you need?"

"Some answers would be nice. Just why are you people here, anyway?"

"I'm not sure you're going to like the answers."

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" Ritsuko crossed her arms, a smug expression on her face.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you." There was a sound like someone inhaling deeply.

"In the first place, we're going to put NERV and SEELE out of business." Ritsuko's eyes opened wide in shock; she started to protest, but was cut off. "In exchange for a few small favors, we will totally eradicate every 'Angel' in this system. But that's a secondary objective. Primary reason is to retrieve the heir lineal, as well as hopefully rescue the crown princess from a truly horrible imprisonment. You know these people; they are Shinji and Yui Ikari, respectively."

"No! You're lying, Yui Ikari is DEAD…!"

"Oh, PUH-LEEZE! You and I both know better! Her essence is very much alive, and VERY unhappy. The sick thing is, you know that everything Gendo did was to get Yui back, and you still think that some day, he'll love you. Hard to do, since he's now as dead as you claim Yui was." Ritsuko's eyes widened, filling with tears of anger. " You are so friggin deep in denial that you don't even realize that you're following exactly in your mom's footsteps. You always try to prove yourself her superior, but all you'll ever be is a pale shadow."

"That's not true! I'm not her shadow; I'M MY OWN PERSON, YOU BODYLESS FREAK!"

"Phah. You just keep right on telling yourself that, Doc. Just for the record, I might not have a body, but I'm a helluva lot more human than you'll ever be. After all, I'm not the one aiding, abetting and boffing a genocidal maniac!

Good day, DOCTOR."

The room went silent. Soon the only sound heard was the bitter sobbing of a shattered woman.

KAJI:

'God, I feel like crap. Whatever I was drinking with Misato must've had one helluva a kick!' This was Kaji's first foggy thought upon opening his eyes. Memory then kicked in and he abruptly sat up, or rather tried to. Big mistake!

The pain felt like he'd been worked over by the section-2 goon squad. He groaned out a curse as he fell back. That's when he found that he had company.

"Ah, Mr. Ryouji! Welcome back to the world of the wakeful!" Kaji noted absently that the voice was disgustingly cheerful.

"You sound like a morning person…I hate morning people! Speaking of which, just who and where are you…and come to think of it, where am I?" A small bottle clinked out of a slot next to his bed; obviously he was supposed to drink it, despite the perfectly vile smell coming from the contents. Ah, well, down the hatch. The effect was almost immediate, and he sighed in relief. What sounded suspiciously like a snicker echoed through the room.

"I don't think I know what a 'morning person' is, but thanks for thinking of me as one, anyway. Y'see, I'm an AI, but you can call me Oddball. You're on board the ISS Stavanzer, currently in geosynchronous orbit above Japan. We will shortly be en route to UN headquarter in Neo-Berlin."

"Oh. And what business do you have with the U.N?"

"We plan on offering a plan for the betterment of all."

"Very Altruistic, I'm sure. But what's the catch, and who, exactly are 'WE'?"

"We are elements of the Imperial Star Fleet, under direct command of his Imperial Majesty, Priam the 14th.

We represent the Ikarian Stellar Empire."

Kaji stared blankly for a moment, then started to laugh. "Ikarian Empire! Kami save us, SEELE is going to have a canary about this. Ikari, as in Ikari Gendo…?"

The temperature in the room seemed to drop radically. "Mr. Ryouji, do NOT dignify that piece of Borf excrement with the Ikari name. He was a disgrace and a non-entity. He has been dealt with, and his fellow nut-cases will soon follow."

Kaji's eyebrows arced upwards. "Really? Tell me more."

"Oh? What would you like to know, pray tell?"

"What I've always wanted to know. The truth."

"The truth? You can't handle the truth!"

Kaji's voice was eerily calm. "Try me."

"OK, you asked for it. That monitor there should have all you need to know. Just say 'more' to advance. But one question."

"Name it." Kaji was already racing through the information displayed.

"I've seen you referred to in various personal logs as a stud. Don't you find it taxing holding up walls?"

Kaji promptly fell over, twitching convulsively,

"Sheesh. Maybe I should've asked about how he could fit on a snow tire instead…?"

A/N The ship names were borrowed from the Icerigger trilogy by Sci-fi writer Alan Dean Foster.

TBC.


End file.
